Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Dreary grey sky again this morning without even a tiny glimmer of sunshine to be seen anywhere after Richie did my leg exercises.

My legs were not too stiff and tense this morning which was good, Richie picks up each leg in turn, he holds my ankle and lower leg and supports my knee.

Then he lifts my leg towards my head as if I were cycling, he does this once with both legs, then he massages both legs from foot to top of thigh.

After that he lifts both legs in turn, then he carefully places legs in a good position and puts feet up against foam bolster at the end of the bed.

This stops my feet from collapsing to the sides which results in my feet pointing down in the wheelchair.

Which also causes problems with footwear; it seems that if my feet are not braced against the bolster, it would increase the time my feet slip off to the side.

Feet hanging or pointing down is not good, the other thing Richie do is to reposition the long cushions I rest my arms on while sleeping.

He squashes them up and use them to keep my knees from flopping to the side which is not good either as it stop my knees being flexible.

I had done most of my arm exercises before Richie did my leg exercises, the only ones I had not done was the one with the handles over the bar over my bed.

Enjoy that exercises as it helps me to stretch out my arms, excellent thing to do not long after waking up.

Especially good to counteract the cramps and the feeling of having a strait jacket around my arms and shoulders.

After the exercises and my calcium/vitamin D tablet I sit up using the beds handset, once I am sat up Richie uses a small long cushion to prop me up on the right.

This stops me slumping too quickly to the right side and it has been very effective, but it does need to be regularly checked and adjusted so it gives me the maximum support that I need

Briefly the sun came out and the thick cloud cover lifted so the blue sky became visible, this did not last for longer than 30 minutes before big clouds drifted by and massed up to form a big grey cloud cover once more.

Hope the sun and the blue skies happen again, for a short time it was so pretty outside makes me hope for more sunshine today.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Former president of the Royal College of Physicians says blanket ban has failed to cut crime or improve health.

One of the UK's leading doctors said today the government should consider decriminalising drugs because the blanket ban has failed to cut crime or improve health.

"I'm not saying we should make heroin available to everyone, but we should be treating it as a health issue rather than criminalising people," said Sir Ian Gilmore, former president of the Royal College of Physicians.

Gilmore put his position on the record publicly today after telling fellows and members of the college last month in a statement that he felt like "finishing my presidency on a controversial note".

He gave his backing to Nicholas Green, chairman of the Bar Council, who recently suggested individual use be decriminalised.

"This could drastically reduce crime and improve health," said Gilmore, who added that drugs should still be regulated.

He praised an article published on 13 July in the British Medical Journal by Stephen Rolles, senior policy analyst at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, which, he said, clearly made the argument for decriminalisation.

Rolles pointed out not only that criminalising drug use had exacerbated health problems such as HIV, which can be spread by the use of contaminated needles, but had created a much larger array of secondary harms, including "vast networks of organised crime, endemic violence related to the drug market, corruption of law enforcement and governments, militarised crop eradication programmes (environmental damage, food insecurity, and human displacement), and funding of terrorism and insurgency."

Decriminalisation in Portugal in 2001, Rolles said, had led to a fall in drug use among young people. A study by the World Health Organisation, he added, has shown that countries taking tough action do not have lower levels of drug use than countries with liberal policies.

The editor of the British Medical Journal, Dr Fiona Godlee, gave her personal support to Rolles' call for decriminalisation.

"He says, and I agree, that we must regulate drug use, not criminalise it," she wrote in the journal.

Danny Kushlik, head of external affairs at Transform, which campaigns for legalisation, said the intervention of senior medical professionals was significant.

"Sir Ian's statement is yet another nail in prohibition's coffin," he said. "The Hippocratic oath says: 'First, do no harm'. Physicians are duty bound to speak out if the outcomes show that prohibition causes more harm than it reduces."

He added: "With a prime minister and deputy prime minister both longstanding supporters of alternatives to the war on drugs, at the very least the government must initiate an impact assessment comparing prohibition with decriminalisation and strict legal regulation."

Nicholas Green, chairman of the Bar Council, made his comments in a report in the profession's magazine, in which he said that drug-related crime costs the economy about £13bn a year.

There was growing evidence that decriminalisation could free up police resources, reduce crime and recidivism and improve public health.

Last month, Professor David Nutt, who was sacked as the Labour government's top drugs adviser after saying ecstasy was less harmful than alcohol, said the UK needed a radical new approach to drugs laws, which may include the regulated sale of some drugs.

Marinade chicken with GarlicGinger (chopped)Lime juiceAnd some of the garam masala mixThymeGrind black pepperAndMarinade overnight or for a few hours.

Heat oil when hot add sugar and cook until brownTurn heat off briefly to stop burnng blackTurn heat back on and add chickenAnd hot pepperWhen well browned add a cup of waterCook for ten minutesRemove chickenThen add chopped potatoes and tomatoesAnd cook well until potato cubes or slices are soft and tomatoes alsoThen when sauce is thicker add chicken cook for a few minutes and add1 teaspoon of garam masalaAnd Fresh chopped corianderPinch of salt if neededAnd serve with dhal, rice, fried plantain and roti

Friday, August 13, 2010

Went to sleep pretty easily last night, especially after the two drunks finished their tins of strong beer and moved on, one went off on a moped, hope he got home safe as did anyone he passed on the road.

Today started very promisingly with gorgeous sunshine and blue skies which lasted an hour when thick clouds obscured the beautiful blue sky.

Not long after the rumble of thunder announced yet another thunderstorm and lots of rain which rather put a dent in the day.

Was really hopeful that today would be the day to go out and visit the market, I am not so keen in a thunderstorm especially one that has drifted off and come back again.

When will it be over and do I want to get halfway up the road only to have to rush home to get back in the dry.

Guess that I shall have to work that out for myself and soon too, going to discuss this with Richie, see what he thinks.

It does not look like the clouds are going to drift away again and reveal the beautiful blue sky and sunshine that I know lies behind the thick grey cloud cover.

Tomorrow is the farewell party for our lovely neighbour Willes at the Fijnout theatre across the road.

It starts at 16.00 so think I will go over then and have a chat with Willes and check out what the theatre looks like.

Hope they will have made it look very nice for her, especially as she worked so well as a volunteer for them.

Shame that she is no longer living in the neighbourhood, especially when it is so much heir’s.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

My recent skin damage is healed once again; luckily it only took 6 days this time, so only b.6 days in bed.

That was good as I would have hated to spend even longer in bed as it really is not good for my body.

I have been sitting since Friday, the first time for 40 minutes; it was very nice being in the front room in my wheelchair.

Yesterday I sat for 1 hour and 30 minutes with no problems; it was wonderful to be in the front room with my darling Richie, we watched Leeds v Derby, a good game

No wonder that I have been so depressed; really not surprising after so long in bed, thius month it is two years on 21 August.

I do my very best to stay optimistic, which mostly works well, really have learned to stay here and now.

Have to confirm this everyday, so I do not forget, gradually lit is happening automatically, what I am finding difficult is to stop reproaching myself for things I supposedly did not do or not well enough.

It is not productive and only drains me of energy I could use for other things; hope to get out of that habit soon.

It is a real shame that 3 lots of skin problems, skin torn open in January did not heal until April, then another incident in May which took two weeks to heal, luckily it only took 6 days to heal this last time.

That plus the slowness of ARCA/Welzorg to press ahead and get my arm supports properly adjusted have I fear cost me the summer.

They took 3 months to finally glue a longer arm support on to my existing but not useful arm support.

Now it seems like the summer has gone and an early autumn has started already, plus we noticed that it is slowly getting darker earlier at night.

What a shame had hoped for a warm summer like last year can see now that it was pure luck last year.

Have lots of plans now my arms and shoulders are well supported to go further than our street or the top of the road to the Kinkerstraat.

Planning to go to the market this coming Thursday or Friday, will be brilliant as the last time was 19 August 2008.

Who knows we might even get to the Paradiso for a concert in November, maybe to the Basjoe.

Wonderful to be planning things again, hope to have a life outside of my bed.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Would like to warn everyone about a website called Serenata Flowers http://www.serenataflowers.com .

I found the site on Sunday, they claimed to send flowers, chocolates and vases to International destinations.

This was a wonderful discovery as we wanted to send flowers to a dear friend in Edmonton, Canada.

I placed an order for pretty flowers, chocolates plus vase and paid via Pay Pal, after I placed the order I thought that was it, until we heard from our delighted friend on Wednesday.

Sadly things did not go so smoothly, as various problems happened, such as the flowers I had chosen were not available in Canada, despite being on the page for Canada.

I had to choose again and again, each time my choice was not available in Canada.

This happened 5 times all with links sent to me by the Customer Service Representatives.

The next disappointment was that the chocolates and the vase I chose were also not available to Canada.

Because all this took most of Monday and none of my choices were available I was offered a more expensive bouquet at no further charge plus a clear glass vase.

I got the final confirmation on Tuesday that the flowers would be delivered on Wednesday with vase.

Wonderful result after a lot of stress on Monday and 25 mails sent to Seranata Customer Service.

Yesterday I assumed that all was well and the bouquet of roses and lilies would be delivered and be a pleasant surprise.

The only surprise was the one that I got at 20.00 pm last night when I received a mail from Serenata that my friends address was not in their Canadian partner’s delivery area.

I could not believe this after all the stress and seemingly endless mails, trying to get a result on Monday, to get such an unpleasant surprise last night when it was too late to do anything was horrible.

There was no mention of a refund or apologies just that my order was cancelled, end of story, but not for me.

I sent a couple of mails requesting the immediate repayment of my money and expressing my disappointment at the non delivery of flowers.

This morning I got a mail from one of the Customer Service Representatives I dealt with offering his excuses and a 30% discount on my next purchase:

‘’ Dear Herrad,

I am so sorry for ‘the disappointment of the florist informing us they could not deliver. Not being familiar with the country ourselves we would not be aware of this, but I am in agreement that we should have been informed sooner to give you the opportunity to make alternative arrangements.

You will of course be refunded in full - my colleague is actioning that now for me.

I would also like to offer a discount voucher off any future orders you may place. Please enter the discount code ND30PC0802 for 30% off any order.

Thank you for your mail, this has been a truly horrible experience, the only good thing after all the stress on Monday was the confirmation on Tuesday, that our friend would get a lovely surprise on her birthday.

You do not need to know the country, but it is of paramount importance that you know where your partners in Canada can deliver to, so you can provide a good service.

Which certainly is not the situation now, I will not be using the discount voucher as I do not feel confident to use your website ever again.

I think it is a shame for you and your excellent colleague Charmaine, you have my sympathy for having to work in such a disorganised environment.

I will be letting all my friends and acquaintances know of my experience and will blog about it later, as I would not want anyone else to be so disappointed.

Regards,Herradps The refund has been received on my PayPal account.

So I have my money back would have rather have had a bouquet delivered for our dear friend’s birthday instead.

Ah well at least I have learned something, which is find out if the address can be delivered in the first place.

At least I got the intelligence I needed to know, I won't go there again.